Springs Lawyer Denied Bail For Beating Estranged Wife

A Delray Beach lawyer who ran for Congress in 1986 is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail after being convicted of aggravated battery.

Ralph ``Rick`` Martin, 43, was found guilty this week of beating his wife, Angela, and breaking her nose on March 21 in their Coral Springs home.

They have been married about 20 years, but are getting divorced, Angela Martin said.

Martin, a Republican who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Dan Mica, D-Lake Worth, in the 1986 election, will be sentenced on Dec. 4, Assistant State Attorney Lee Jay Seidman said.

Martin faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for the second-degree felony, he said.

Martin, a patent lawyer with an office in Delray Beach, also faces suspension from the Florida Bar, said his attorney, John Voigt. Bar rules dictate an automatic suspension for as long as three years if a lawyer is convicted of a felony.

The couple had been quarreling when Martin struck his wife and knocked her to the ground, according to a police report. He then began to beat her with his fists and kick her, the report states.

Martin picked her up and dropped her head-first to the floor and grabbed her by the hair and ``began dragging her back and forth across the floor through her own blood,`` the report states.

Martin, a former part-time police officer, then picked her up and offered to drive her to a hospital, according to the report. When she refused, Ralph Martin called a friend of his wife, who took her to the emergency room at University Community Hospital in Tamarac.